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Actress Harshika Poonacha, who is all set to make her Tollywood debut with ‘Panipuri’, says that Hyderabad has become her second home. “I have spent almost five to six months in Hyderabad, shooting for the film. It has become like my second home,” she says.
Although she has received good Telugu scripts, she says she is not ready to take them up yet. “I have received two or three good offers but I’m waiting for the movie to release before I can commit to anything further. Right now, directors have just looked at my pictures or two or three scenes and are offering me the scripts.
Some people come to the sets of the movie to watch the performance. That is all very nice because it makes you realise that even though it’s such a large industry, newcomers are given a chance if they have talent. But I’d like to wait till they see my movie,” she says. Talking about the movie, she says, “It is a love story and there is equal part for both the hero and the heroine. The fantastic cast provides good padding for me as an actor who is making her debut in an industry.” The movie stars Surya Teja.
She adds, “I was supposed to dub for the movie, but the director (Vishnu) said that it wouldn’t be a good idea. He said that although my Telugu is flawless and voice is really good, one needs to be very fluent to dub. So he suggested that I start dubbing from my next movie.”
While most of the movie was shot in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, some scenes were shot in Thailand and Karnataka. “We did a song in Mandya so artistes from the Kannada industry were involved as well, which was good. The people from Karnataka were glad to find out that I was part of a Telugu movie and the artistes from the Telugu industry were very surprised at how popular I am!”
Harshika will be seen in three other movies: ‘Gulaabi Street’, a women-centric script that follows the lives of fashion models; ‘Ready’, a comedy/love story based in Hubli and ‘Love Darbar’, a love story of a wildlife photographer and a social worker. While ‘Ready’ is almost complete, the other two Kannada films are yet to commence shooting.